The Wild: Compare and Contrast Argumentative Essay

Introduction

The 6th of September 1992 will remain etched in the minds of many Americans as it marks the day that Chris McCandless's body was found in an abandoned old bus in the Delina Park (Krakauer). The young man, a recent college graduate, had set out on a journey to the Alaskan to try and survive on his own as an outcast away from the mainstream society. The chronicles of his journey were captured in a journal that he kept about his activities in the wild and the food items that he consumed. This case has always baffled law enforcement agencies, psychologists, and members of the press that were among the first people to arrive at the scene of his death (Krakauer). Policemen have never been able to establish the actual cause of his death while psychologists have always wondered what would lead a young man full of future potential to isolate himself from society in pursuit of a dangerous adventure for which he was both ill-equipped and inexperienced.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

It baffles many that Chris McCandless opted to remove himself from the comforts of urban life in exchange for the dull outdoor life in the wild. What is even more intriguing is the manner in which he died after his body was discovered by moose hunters on the abandoned bus with a note excerpt from a Nikolai Gogol novel where he was seen to ask for help. The journalist who discovered his body gives three different theories that may have contributed to the demise of the self-imposed social outcast (Krakauer). The first theory asserts that maybe the food supplies that McCandless gad taken with him and the supplemental wild berries and small animals on which he was surviving may have run out leaving him starve to death (Krakauer). There is also another assertion that he may have eaten poisonous blue berries whose not-so-strong toxins overpowered him due to his deteriorating physical condition. Also possible for causing his death is the accumulating mold on the blue berries due to their haphazard storage conditions.

No one knows what Chris McCandless intended to achieve by trying to survive on his own in the wild. He only carried few equipment with him that clearly worsened his odds of surviving in the Alaskan wild. He was also inexperienced in the wild adventures which beats logic why he opted to travel alone. Psychologists have been questioning his way of thinking because it defies normal human behavior. Equally puzzling is his isolated stay in a wild where hunters and other adventurers toured yet he did not make a friend out of any of them. His journal and pictorial accounts of his travels depict a loner status of someone introverted although on an outdoor solo tour.

A decade after Chris McCandless's body was discovered, a hip-hop and rap songwriter would be involved in a grisly accident that left him badly injured especially on his mouth with doctors saying he would never be able to talk again. Kanye West, considered a modern day outcast, came back stronger through three quickfire music albums in defiance of the medical advice and as an epitome of self-belief and unparalleled narcissism. Like McCandless, West believes that he does not need anybody else as his ideas can see him survive on his own. However, unlike McCandless who was a college dropout, Kanye West rattled everyone by his harsh criticism of college education through his three albums College Dropout (2004), Late Registration (2005), and Graduation (2007) (Richardson). West has remained consistent is his polarizing character as he continues to isolate himself from different demographics within the wider American society.

Psychologists believe that West's narcissism gives him disillusions to believe that he is the best person in the world. He has even been touted as a potential presidential candidate in the 2020 elections. He pulls himself further away from the people who adore him through his tweets that are as childish as they are philosophical. His song writing skills usually have controversial lyrics just like the content of the majority of his tweets. This can be compared to McCandless's use of Nikolai Gogol's novel to pass a subtle message to the world he was running away from. West is a proper outcast who has defied contemporary trends like shutting down his social media accounts when the majority of his followers cannot even think about pulling such a stunt (Graham).

Kanye West has gone against the social grain by riling over Taylor Swift at a music awards event where he did not endear himself with the singer's white fan base. He has started a clothes line that is seen as obnoxious due to the awkward designs that his design team rolls out. The height of his narcissism can be seen through his moniker Yeezus where he perceives himself as another version of Jesus Christ in terms of influence and popularity on earth. Perhaps the biggest form of self-imposed outcast, like that of McCandless, from the African-American community through his support for Trump's presidency that is averse to immigrants and the black community. The community is angered by West's recent proclamation that slavery was a choice for enslaved African-Americans and has gone ahead to state that he does not owe anyone an apology for his political sentiments and affiliations.

Works Cited

Graham, Chris. "Kanye West stirs speculation after deleting social media accounts." The Telegraph 6 May 2017. Online.

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. London: Picador, 2018. Internet resource.

Krakauer, Jon. "How Chris McCandless Died." The New Yorker 12 September 2013. Online.

Richardson, Chris. "Can't Tell Me Nothing": Symbolic Violence, Education, and Kanye West. Popular Music and Society, 34:1, 97-112, 2011. DOI: 10.1080/03007766.2011.539831